


Come As You Are

by the_queenmaker



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-13
Updated: 2011-06-13
Packaged: 2017-10-20 09:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_queenmaker/pseuds/the_queenmaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beauty and the Beast AU. Alex is the beauty and Hank is the beast--at least on the outside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come As You Are

There once was a small town, quiet and quaint, where the days passed slowly and nothing major ever happened until one fateful summer’s day. A man burst into the village pub, shaking as though he was being chased by the northern wind.

“I need your help!” he gasped. “Please, I need your help!” The townspeople gathered and their hands went to their mouths as the man told his tale. He was a merchant, returning home from a long and profitable trip overseas, and he had been forced to stay the night at a dark, dingy old castle after his cart had stalled. “There were roses,” he said, “blue roses in the garden. I had picked one when I was _attacked_ by a hideous blue monster. He demanded that I send someone to him in place of my life. But my daughters…”

His daughters were beautiful and young, he lamented, and what a pity if any of them should be sent to be devoured by such a creature.

“Don’t worry, my fellow man,” the Mayor said, thinking quickly as he eyed the merchant’s wagon of goods. “We will assist you in your time of need.”

“But how?”

He put a hand to his chin. “We will send someone from the orphanage.” He decided. “Nobody wants those children anyway.”

//

And that was how Alex Summers ended up on the back of a carriage, decked in the finest clothing he’d ever worn (which, honestly, wasn’t saying very much), a live sacrifice on his way to the altar.

“You’re the oldest child,” Mayor Shaw had said, voice dripping with false sympathy. “It only makes sense. Unless you would rather your brother go in your place.”

Scott had cried, fat and ugly tears, and the mere thought made his chest tighten.

The coach rolled to a stop and, once he had stepped off, took off immediately back the way it came. The castle was a very tall one, and not at all as frightening as he had imagined. The lawns were well-groomed, at least, and it was made of orange brick, not stone.

“Alright, I’m here,” he bellowed as he pushed open the front door. “What do you want from me?”

Silence.

He walked pass the threshold. The interior was like nothing he had ever seen. Extravagant rugs, thick curtains, little spheres of light that lit up the rooms better than candlelight ever could.

“Oh my,” said a voice. “And who might you be?” Alex looked around, but saw no one. The voice spoke again, helpfully. “Down over here.” A shiny four-wheeled apparatus with big eyes and a silver rod sticking out its back rolled in slow circles around his feet. “Hello,” it said earnestly. “How can I help you?”

“You’re the terrifying demon I was sent here to be devoured by?” Alex asked doubtfully.

It jumped up and _whirr-_ ed backwards, looking as indignant as a little rolling thing could. “Most certainly not,” it huffed. “There is no monster here.”

Another voice joined in, this one sultrier, more self-assured. “Don’t be silly Charles, you know who the boy’s talking about.”

Alex wasn’t quite sure how to respond to what appeared to be a gingerbread man-sized doll composed of [little shiny balls and colorful sticks](http:<center>//</center>en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomag). The little thing on wheels, or Charles as it was apparently called, _vroom_ ed back and forth angrily. “Hank is not a monster. But I suppose…”

Charles screwed its eyes shut and the little rod began glowing.

“What’s going on here?” Alex asked, sufficiently annoyed at this point. “You sent for me and you’re not even prepared?”

“Sit down, boy,” the little man said, gesturing one of his hands, and Alex felt a weight on his shoulders that his knees buckled under. “There’s a good lad. Now be patient and be quiet.”

“Who’s the human?” A dark-framed with the image of a shapely blonde girl sauntered out from behind the stairs. She glanced at Alex. “Is he another sacrifice to break the curse?”

“Don’t scare him,” Charles admonished. The girl in the mirror snickered and she morphed into Alex. It was only a little disconcerting to see your own face in a mirror sticking your own tongue out at you.

“Did you call for me?” Alex turned toward the source of the voice and stood up involuntarily. That, standing at the top of the staircase, was a monster if he ever saw one—large, with blue fur and impossibly sharp teeth.

“Well, I’m here,” he said, throwing his arms up to disguise the nervous tapping of his foot. No sense in going down like a scared little child. “Whatever you’re going to do to me, just do it.”

The beast peered at him, and Alex noticed he was wearing spectacles. “I’m sorry,” the beast said uncertainly. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Alex stared at him. “The merchant?” he asked. “The guy who stole a blue rose from you? Said he had to send his daughter in his place?”

“I remember that fellow,” the beast said slowly. “I told him he could keep the rose if he wanted, I can grow plenty more. Maybe he didn’t hear me, he was going on and on about something …”

Please don’t go, we can run away, Scott had begged the night before. Alex lets out a slow and angry breath. “So, what,” he asked roughly. “I’m stuck here with no way to get home because you were so fucking hideous that some asshole couldn’t keep his memory straight?”

The beast flinched. “Um, well, I-I apologize,” he said, fumbling for words. “I can probably, uh, make something, I guess. It might, I mean, it will take me a little while, but I can…I mean, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want. But. Until then, I suppose you’re welcome to, uh, stay. Sorry. Again.”

When Alex didn’t say anything, it looked away and crawled swiftly up the left wing staircase.

The three ‘things’ stared at him.

“Guess you’re not gonna be any help at all,” the mirror said bitterly.

//

“He’s not a beast, don’t call him that,” Charles said sharply as he led Alex through the halls. “His name is Hank and he’s one of the gentlest souls I’ve ever met.”

“So, why does he look like that?”

“He was cursed by the White Queen,” Charles replied. “We all were, because he wouldn’t give her Cerebro.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an invention of his.” the little wheels rounded a corner. “She could’ve turned it into a weapon, and when he destroyed it with his own hands, she laid a curse on all of us.”

“Invention?”

“Yes, he made all the gadgets in this house.”

“With those hands?” Alex asked doubtfully, staring at the little spheres lining the wall.

“Yes,” Charles said pointedly, coming to a stop in front of one of the rooms. “And you’re never going to evolve if you continue to judge him solely on his appearance.”

//

“You’re not going to tell him at the curse all?” Raven asked sharply. “You’re not even going to _try_?”

“No, I have enough to do,” Hank said, eyes never leaving the blueprint he was mapping out. “I said after the last one that I wasn’t going to try again. I barely have enough time to find a way to reverse all of you guys along with making him something that can take him home.”

“Or,” she said, leaning gently against his shoulder, as her appearance changed into the face of their visitor. “You can put down all those things and try to make him fall in love with you and then we’ll all be cured.”

Hank’s hands stilled and he glanced at her with a pained expression. “Look at him,” he said. “Look at me.”

“What if I showed him what you looked like before?” She asked hopefully. “Maybe it’ll sway him.”

“No, absolutely not.” Hank’s concentration was forcibly turned away from her. “I…I can’t do it.”

“Why not?” she pressed.

“Because the failure rate is too high,” he all but roared, nearly splintering the desk as his fists came down on it. He stared at his hands, as though he were still mortified by them even after so many years. “I-I cannot go for the win-all when I could achieve moderate results at a higher percentage.”

“You call death a moderate result?” Raven asked, scowling heavily.

“Please don’t.” He sounded tired, so tired.

“We won’t hate you if we know you gave it your all,” she said softly. “Just…just try, okay?”

Hank stared ahead into nothing and thought of the ideas he would never share and the inventions he would never get around to creating and the star showers in his lifetime he would never get to see with his own eyes.

“I’ll think about it.”

//

“What?”

“Um,” he said haltingly. “I was just wondering if you would like to have dinner with me. Us.”

“Why the hell would I want that?”

“A-ah, never mind then.” Hank stammered, and he would have bolted away if not for three little things standing in his way.

“What are you doing,” Erik hissed. “Get back in there.”

“He’s hungry,” Charles whispered helpfully. “He’s very hungry, he just needs a reason.”

Throwing them a desperate look and taking a deep break, he turned back to the door. “Because you’re a guest here,” he said. “And I…think it would be nice if you could…enjoy your stay. Here.” No response. “We’re serving a roasted pheasant tonight.”

The door opened by just a crack.

“I’ve never had roasted pheasant,” Alex confessed sullenly.

“Well. Would you like to try?”

However reluctantly, the door swung open, and four great sighs of relief are heaved.

//

Dinner was about the strangest affair Alex had ever witnessed. Four seated around a round table polished to an unnatural shine. Only the beast ate normal human food alongside him. The mirror appeared to be bathing in a bowl of clear which smelt like lemons. The ‘kar’, which was what Charles said he was, were absorbing liquid using a reed-like instrument from a bowl of putrid dark liquid.

In all his years, he had only sat at the foot of lengthy tables, as though he could not even eat without being reminded of his status. “So you eat with the people who serve you?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“What? No, no, they’re not my servants,” the beast exclaimed. “Raven is my friend and Charles is my mentor. And Erik just chose an unfortunate day of the week to visit Charles.”

“Must you remind me?” Erik asked, looking as intimidating as a small mass of balls and sticks could be.

“Sorry.”

“So, Alex,” Charles began after what felt like an eternity of silence. “Inquiring minds are dying to know about more about our guest. Tell us about yourself”

“What’s there to tell?” Alex asked, surprising even himself with the amount of resentment in his voice. “I was sent here because my village thought I was disposable. Doesn’t that tell you everything?”

“Sorry,” the beast said again, automatically.

The pheasant was delicious, but Alex’s appetite was gone. “I’m done,” he said, pushing his chair back and stalking away. No one said anything, no one ran after him with a belt, and Alex is back in his room before he realized he was shaking.

//

Hank cast a despairing look at the others. “You want me to get _him_ to fall in love with me?”

“Yes,” Raven said flatly. “But seriously, what an _ass_.”

“He is, just a bit,” Charles chimed in. “But I will say that he’s got potential, really.”

“Charles, can’t you just…” Erik made a motion with the little balls he had for hands. “Make that boy think he’s in love? Temporarily?”

“No, my friend,” Charles replied heavily. “It’s got to be true love, and true love only comes naturally.”

//

“I built this room a long time ago for Charles,” the beast said, talking quickly as he led Alex down a long hallway. It had taken him nearly an hour (and a few well-placed threats from Raven) to coax Alex out of his room. “Nobody really uses it nowadays, but you’re welcome to if you would like.”

“What is it?”

The doors slid open and Alex was treated to an array of odd mechanical chairs equipped with an odd system of pulleys and weights and handles.

“It’s a workout room,” the beast explained. “All the machines here are designed to enhance the body—weights for the muscles and running machines for cardiovascular improvement. I, I don’t have that much entertainment here, and I couldn’t be sure of what else you could do. I mean, the most I have are books but I wasn’t sure if you could read or—”

“I can’t.” Alex interrupted. The beast fell silent as he walked over to one of the machines and pulled on one of the handles. The muscle in his forearm sang. “But,” he conceded, “this place is pretty amazing. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” the beast said, clearly caught off guard by the gratitude. “Uh, I’ll leave you here then?”

Alex stayed in that room for hours, running and jumping and pushing and pulling. He’s never quite pushed his body this way before, but he’s never felt more alive. It’s nightfall by the time he leaves, and he’s exhausted and sore, but felt inexplicably good.

Erik is standing outside in the hallway, which was just a little odd and off-putting, but Alex was a guest and perhaps the little stick-man just liked to brood here..

“Hi,” he said slowly. “Do you know where I can find the b—I mean, Hank? I wanna say thanks.”

“Hank’s in his laboratory conducting experiments. No one’s allowed inside when he’s working,” Erik said. “I’ll take you to where he is. Follow me.”

//

“Alex!” Hank nearly knocked over the stand of test tubes he had been working on in his haste to correct himself. “What-what are you doing here?”

“Whoa, you were hanging upside down!” Alex blurted out. “How did you…” He glanced toward the floor. “You have hands for feet,” he said with a morbid fascination. “That’s disgusting.”

Hank felt something drop through his stomach and swallowed, only slightly disheartened at how the other had waltzed in uninvited, and made him feel uncomfortable in his own sanctuary.

“What is all this stuff?” Alex asked, looking around in amazement. Bubbling liquids flowing through tubes, numbers and symbols on charts, letters and words on notes hastily scribbled on bits of papers; he couldn’t help but feel a little impressed. There was even a corner of the room filled with metal tools and half-finished gadgets.

“This is my workshop,” Hank said stiffly. “I…make stuff here.”

Alex whistled. Then something glowing out on the balcony caught his eye. “What’s that—“

“Um, could you please leave?” Hank asked, almost in a panic. “I have a lot of work I want to finish. And I can’t think...I need to be…I get distracted really easily.”

“Huh? Okay yeah sure, whatever.” Alex said. “Just wanted to drop by and say thanks

Hank blinked, like it was the last thing he expected to hear. “Oh, ah, you’re…you’re welcome,” he said cautiously.

“Anyway, that’s all I had to say,” Alex said awkwardly, pushing his lips together. “I’m going.”

Hank stood there, experiencing a feeling he was rarely acquainted with: confusion. It was a long time before he had centered himself enough to launch himself off the ground, allowing the blood to flow to his head.

//

“Oh…ouch,” Charles winced. “Um, I can’t…I can’t feel my back tires.” Hank and Erik jumped up, alarmed. “Oh, no wait, there they are.”

They sat back down heaving great sighs of relief.

“Well,” Erik said, “You’re still a talking mechanical car, so I suppose the serum didn’t work this time either.”

“I guess it didn’t,” Hank said apologetically. “Sorry, Charles.”

“It’s quite alright,” Charles said, rolling back and forth experimentally. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have us all back to normal soon enough.”

//

The next day, Alex was out wandering the castle grounds when he happened upon a most unusual sight. The beast, a watering can and pruning shears by his feet, was carefully pulling off the wilted blossoms and placing them in a basket.

“What are you doing?” He couldn’t help but ask.

The beast looked up, startled. “I’m collecting specimens to check on their health.”

“You garden?”

“Yes.” He nodded jerkily.

“You planted all of these by hand?” Alex asked, surprised. “I thought you just stuck needles into them and they grew in an instant or something weird like that.”

“Not for these,” the beast laughed self-consciously. “I mean, I did create the original seed by genetically modifying the cell structure of the original white rose, and combining it with the pigments of an iris. That process by itself required multiple trials and by the time…” he trailed off when he took note of his audience’s vacant stare.

“They’re very nice,” Alex admitted, to fill the silence. “Why did you? I mean, gardening’s an odd hobby compared to all those…other stuff you do.”

The beast sat back on the heels of his hand-feet, and was silent. Just when Alex thought he wasn’t going to get an answer, the other opened his mouth. “There was a fortune teller who passed through a while ago,“ he said softly. “She told me that if I could find a way to cultivate blue roses, they would lead me to the one who could break my curse.”

//

“I have a little brother,” Alex said, remembering. “We were orphaned from a young age, but it didn’t matter because we had each other. I don’t know what’s happened to him and it kills me not to know.”

“I’m sorry,” Hank replied contritely.

“Whatever,” Alex shook his head. “Wasn’t your fault.”

Hank said nothing, but when Alex left, he pulled the unfinished blueprint from the bottom of the pile and gets to work.

//

Hank disappeared into his workshop for a few days. When he finally emerged, he had in his possession a dark black carriage which walked on four spider-like legs, small but durable.

“From what you’ve told me about your village, I’ve sent projectiles to the sky and gotten an image of where it ought to be,” he said looking grey in the face. “It should take you directly to the village.”

“That’s amazing,” Alex said, stepping in. “Thank you, I…I’m very grateful.”

Hank smiled sadly at him. “Safe trip,” he said, and closed the carriage door.

//

“You’re just going to let him leave?” Raven asked, enraged. “You don’t have that much time left, and you’re just going to let him leave?!”

“The curse is only broken if he loves me,” Hank replied, staring unblinkingly as one of the two remaining rose petals wilted from the blossom. “Whether I love him or not is irrelevant.”

//

The carriage traveled along smoothly, and the landscapes became increasingly familiar as it prattled on. Alex gazed out the window, trying hard to focus on finding his brother and not of the castle he had left behind.

“What are you going to do when your village persecutes you for returning from the dead?” Alex jumped. Erik was sitting across from him, tiny little magnetic legs crossed. “You know they’re not going to believe you when you say that the beast who lived there was a peaceful creature.”

“I don’t care what they say,” Alex snarled. “I’ll leave town if it comes down to that, I’m not afraid anymore. But I won’t depend on anyone else ever again.”

“He’ll die you know,” Erik said with frightening tranquility. “The curse can only be broken if someone can fall in love with Hank before his 21st birthday, which, incidentally, began twenty-minutes ago. If he fails, then he will die and the rest of us will be stuck in the form we are currently in for all eternity.”

Alex’s heart stopped. “What—that’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“He…he would’ve said something if that was the case,” Alex said, panic growing deep in his stomach.

“You would have said something,” Erik corrected. “Hank forbade all of us from saying a single thing.”

The puzzle pieces clicked into place. Hank, locked in his workshop for days at a time. Hank, who still took time to tend his roses and make Alex feel welcome. Hank, who had sent him home without saying a word, even though he _knew_ …

Alex felt sick, torn in two directions. Scott was probably alright, probably wouldn’t die in the next few hours, but Scott was his brother he had left alone for too long. Hank was going to die, but Hank was…

“I—I need to find my brother first,” Alex said, shaky but determined. “I’ll take him with me, and then I’ll go back to Hank.”

“He’ll die before you get back,” Erik said acidly just as the carriage winded down to a stop. “And his death will be on your head.”

//

The confrontation went as well as he could expect. He burst through the doors, took one look at the thinness of Scott’s arms and the bruise forming under Scott’s eye, and punched the Director in the face. All that time spent in Hank’s workout room well-spent, apparently.

“Is that really you, Alex?” Scott asked dizzily as Alex took him by the hand and ran toward where he had parked the carriage. “Everyone thought you were dead, I always knew you weren’t.”

He held his brother close as the carriage came to life and began moving again, this time trekking back to where Hank was. “I’m alive,” he whispered. _And god I hope Hank is too._

//

The final petal dimmed and fell from the rose.

//

He found Hank in the garden, collapsed among the roses he loved so much, motionless like a statue. Alex’s heart dropped through his feet.

“No,” he whispered as he rushed over and rolled Hank over, “no-no-no, Hank, _Hank_!” Hank’s eyes were closed and his body was cold. “Hank, please, wake up,” he said softly, moisture welling in his eyes and blurring his vision. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know about the curse, I didn’t _know_ , I’m so sorry. Please, Hank, you…you were the first person who was ever so kind to me. You, you were the first person to really treat me like I was human. I-I didn’t realize that, and I said so many cruel things I didn’t mean and you never said a _word_ …” He panted for breath as his sobbing finally caught up with him. “And…I love you. I _love_ you, so much, please wake up.”

Hank did not stir and all is still in the garden except for Alex’s tears, as he held Hank’s body in his embrace.

But then, something curious happened. Patches of fur on Hank’s body began to crackle and flake off, turning to dust before it struck the ground. Alex pulled back and watched, transfixed, as slowly but surely, Hank began to molt and his beastly features began to fade. At the end of his transformation, he was holding a boy his own age who was still unmoving.

Feeling inspired, Alex leaned down and pressed their lips together.

The other boy’s eyes fluttered open as they broke apart. “Alex?” His voice had lost the extra dimension of the animalistic growl. “You…you came back?”

Alex burst out laughing and kissed him again as the tears continued to flow. “Yeah I came back,” he said hoarsely. Hank now fitted nicely in his arms. “I came back, and I’m not leaving unless you throw me out, and you’re _beautiful_ , and I would’ve come back even if you were still blue and covered in fur, because I _love_ you so much, Hank.”

Hank broke out into a large smile, and it is the most glorious thing Alex had ever seen. “You mean that?”

“Yeah, I do,” Alex said, drunk with euphoria, kissing Hank again and again until Hank finally started kissing back.

//

“Aww,” Raven said, wiping away a tear as she clapped a hand over Scott’s eyes. “I love happy endings.”

“As do I,” Erik murmured as he shoved a stammering Charles unceremoniously toward the nearest closet. “Now, if you will excuse us.”

//

And they lived happily ever after.

[ the.end ]

**Author's Note:**

> \+ I know the whole point of X-men is that you should love yourself for what you are, even if society thinks you’re hideous, but that’s not how the fairytale goes and Nicholas Hoult is so very pretty.
> 
> \+ I’m sorry I couldn’t fit more characters in here, but I don’t feel like I have a good enough grasp on say Banshee or Angel to be able to write about them. So…hope you all enjoyed anyway!


End file.
